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Step by Step, We'll Get There	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: S through Z > Teen Wolf Views: 4674 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf nor profit of it. Jeff Davis owns it.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Author's note: I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging for this long! That was never my intention but the heat wave currently happening here has been draining my energy and cutting into my time of writing :/ Still, I apologise for taking so long!
Warnings: Hm nothing special. Just a smidgen of angst I suppose
I hope you'll like this chapter!
Chapter 2
"Derek?" he repeated, growing more and more uncertain as seconds passed by in unsettling silence from the other man.
Derek refused to look at him, instead keeping his eyes firmly trained on the ground; his claws and fangs were still visible, but he made no attempt to challenge Theo with them. He just remained standing there stiffly, as immobile as a statue.
"Ah," Theo sighed; the sound loud and jarring in the tense silence which had fallen between them just now. "I thought you knew, Stiles."
When Stiles turned around to glare at him, the Alpha was looking at him apologetically. "You thought I knew what?" he asked through gritted teeth; Derek's continuous silence putting him more and more on edge.
Things had just started to become interesting, even as his mind was still reeling with the fact that Derek liked him too, but everything was going to shit now and panic was brewing in the pit of his stomach. He refused to show it, though, instead straightening out his shoulders and jutting out his chin. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this, right? Maybe Derek was just worried about him, not wanting to attack Theo in case Stiles ended up in the midst of the fray.
Nothing else made sense after all.
Theo glanced at Derek, but when the latter still remained mute, he shrugged. "That Hale's a Beta of course. I thought you knew that."
Stiles stared at him, sure that he had misheard him. Maybe the birds chirping high above them had distorted Theo's voice somewhat, because he couldn't have said that …
That Derek was a Beta, right? He couldn't be one, because he smelt like an Alpha! Theo had to be bullshitting now; there was no way Derek, who had smelt like an Alpha for as long as Stiles had known him, who was as powerful and fast as an Alpha, would be a Beta.
He would have known by now if Derek was a Beta, considering the time they had spent in each other's company. The idea of Derek being anything but an Alpha was absurd, laughable even!
Scoffing, he raised an eyebrow. "Yeah sure and I'm a king. You expect me to believe you?"
Theo nodded at Derek. "Ask him if you don't believe me. Hale, are you or are you not a Beta?"
Stiles looked at Derek, expecting to hear him scoff any second now and tell Theo to fuck off, because of course he was an Alpha. It would happen and then he and Derek could finally go back to messing around a bit before they would leave the forest and present themselves to the Council to announce their new bond. After that Stiles could go brag to Scott about his amazing mate and everything would be fine, perfect even!
Any moment now …
When Derek finally looked up, however, he wasn't sneering at Theo or showing other signs that he was annoyed by the Alpha's accusations. Instead, he looked … resigned, defeated even and Stiles' heart clenched; his palms growing clammy as he stared numbly at the other man.
Why wasn't Derek defending himself? Why was he just staring there with a look on his face that said – that said he couldn't disagree with Theo?
"I'm a Beta, Stiles," Derek said softly.
"What?" Stiles thought he could be forgiven for that shrill chuckle even if it made Derek wince. "No, no, you're not a Beta, stop joking around. You smell like an Alpha, you can't be a Beta, Derek!" he said agitatedly, but even as he said that, he knew.
Derek wouldn't lie about something as his Class, wouldn't joke about it, not when their bonding was at risk.
"I spend a lot of time with my sisters," Derek explained uncomfortably, looking utterly miserable. "Their scent – it often gets mixed up with my own and … And that's probably why I smell like an Alpha. I'm sorry, Stiles. I thought – I thought you knew I'm a Beta."
"Remember the rules, Hale," Theo remarked, crossing his arms.
Derek looked away, his fangs and claws slowly receding. "I'll – I'll go now."
Before Stiles could do or say anything to stop him, Derek disappeared, running off into the forest, leaving the Omega alone with Theo.
Numbly Stiles stared in the direction Derek had left, wondering whether this was really happening now. Maybe this whole thing was just a nightmare and he still needed to wake up and attend the Run? Quickly he pinched his arm and grimaced when the sharp stinging pain instantly registered. The spot he had pinched, reddened and he rubbed over it slowly, trying to understand what exactly had just occurred.
So Derek had chased after him, like he had dreamt about ever since he had realised that his feelings for the older man went beyond just mere companionship, and they had been so close to sealing the bond with a kiss and then Theo had appeared and fucked up everything. All because he was an Alpha and Derek was apparently a Beta and how could Stiles not have noticed that before?
Hot tears pricked against his eyeballs and he blinked rapidly, swallowing down the lump which was blocking his throat. He wasn't going to cry, not here in this damn forest and certainly not near the man who had just cost him a relationship he had actually wanted.
More than ever before he hated the Fertility Run and all those fucking archaic rules attached to it. If it weren't for those damned rules, he and Derek would have made their way to the Council now – or would have still been making out – and they could have started getting to know each other even better.
Instead Derek had been forced to take a step back and Theo got to go with Stiles to the Council, even though he hadn't done any chasing, hadn't proven that he was really suitable as a mate. He had hidden behind those stupid rules, forcing Derek to obey them or be fined and have his reputation – and that of the Hales as a whole – endure a strong blow.
The town still took the Fertility Run and its rules very seriously and not even a family considered to be the founders of the town would get leeway with those rules.
This had turned into one gigantic nightmare, but one he wouldn't wake up from, no matter how hard he tried.
"Stiles?"
Taking a deep breath, Stiles looked at Theo, who was studying him curiously. "Well, I suppose we should go to the Council now then. Daytime's wasting and all that," he said, waving his hand haphazardly around them. There were still some hours of daylight left, judging by the position of the sun, but the quicker they got this over with, the better.
Just six months, he reminded himself; his nails digging into his palms. Just six months and you're free. What's six months? You've waited longer than that for a game to be released!
Whilst true, it didn't really set him at ease. Six months seemed daunting all of a sudden, a time period which stretched out in front of him with no ending in sight.
Six months had never felt this long before.
"I know I'm not your first choice," Theo said carefully, smiling wryly.
Stiles had to bite on his tongue to prevent a sarcastic retort from slipping out. They were already off to a great start it seemed.
"But I hope you'll still give me a chance, so that we can get to know each other better," the Alpha continued; his blue eyes catching the sunlight being filtered through the leaves and making them glitter.
"No offense, Theo, but it's not like I have much of a choice about that," Stiles couldn't help but point out bitterly. Whether he wanted to or not, he was obligated to give Theo a chance.
If he could have got away with it, he would have straight up ignored the other man for the following six months, but if he did that, Theo was well in his rights to complain about that to the Council and those stuck up bastards would force Stiles to comply. Stiles' refusal wouldn't reflect well on the Sheriff either and he wasn't willing to risk his father's hard earned position just because he loathed the one who had 'caught' him.
Theo inclined his head. "I suppose not," he murmured and eyed Stiles strangely before offering a faint smile. "Well, let's go back then. We're quite deep into the forest, so it'll be a while before we're back."
Throwing a cursory look around him, Stiles realised for the first time that they were indeed quite deep into the forest. When he had been running, he had been following some kind of instinct which kept leading him further and further away and it hadn't occurred to him then just how far his instinct had led him.
Huh, he was apparently more athletic than he had thought. Hooray for him, he supposed.
The journey back to the field was a quiet one and Stiles mused humourlessly that his dad and Scott – and basically anyone who knew him – would be astonished by that, considering most of the time Stiles hardly knew when to shut up.
He could talk endlessly about even the most inane topic – Wikipedia had the strangest shit in their collection – but now his lips were sealed shut as he trudged beside Theo through the forest. He wasn't in the mood to talk to the Alpha; all he wanted was to go back home and stew and feel miserable about how the Run had ended for him. He knew he would have to talk to Theo eventually – unfortunately he couldn't spend six months ignoring the other man – but for today he wanted to stew in the injustice that was the Run and its stupid, backwards rules and mourn the fact that it would take at least six months before he and Derek could try being with each other.
If Derek still wanted him after this.
Sure, he does, he told himself in a weak attempt to cheer himself up. He wouldn't have chased me throughout the entire forest if he didn't really want me. What's six months anyway? Nothing compared to the three years he was gone.
It wasn't like he couldn't talk to Derek in the meantime either. Nothing in the rules stated he could only be in contact with the one who had caught him – which was just as well, because there was no way in hell he would have given up his dad or Scott or even Mama McCall. As long as he didn't outright flirt with Derek or did anything that could even be vaguely misunderstood as 'cheating' on his partner, nothing stopped him from being with Derek.
He needed to talk to him as soon as possible, if only to reassure him that it didn't matter to him that Derek was a Beta and not an Alpha as Stiles had mistakenly assumed for all those years. Who cared whether his eyes flashed golden or red? Derek was Derek and that was all that mattered.
Just six more months and he could prove to Derek that his Class didn't matter at all.
He could do this. If he could survive a history project with Jackson 'Look at me, I'm so fucking perfect' Whittemore, then he could survive hanging out with Theo for six months.
No biggie. There were worse things in the universe.
One of the old dudes belonging to the Council looked quite perplexed when Theo announced he had caught Stiles and frankly, the Omega felt quite insulted. He wasn't that ugly, for fuck's sake! Sure, he might not look as boyishly pretty as Danny did nor as gorgeous as Derek or as handsome as Deputy Parrish, but he wasn't an entirely lost case!
Case in point: two men at least wanted him! Objectively speaking, Theo wasn't that hard on the eyes either. Not that he cared about that and not that he had actually wanted someone else aside from Derek to show interest in him, but he had made his point. He wasn't so undesirable that the old bastard had to look so surprised that someone had actually willingly caught him.
Once again he cursed the Fertility Run and the Council for keeping that tradition alive.
As soon as their names had been registered, Stiles stalked off, itching to leave as soon as possible. Even so, he glanced around when he reached the car park, hoping to spot Derek's Camaro so that he could talk with him.
No such luck. His shoulders slumped as he realised the car park was completely devoid of the familiar black car. There were still quite some cars parked, glinting in the sunlight, but Derek's car was so distinctive it would be difficult to miss it even with all these cars grouped together.
"Damn it," he sighed, running his hands over his face. Well, all was not lost yet. He knew where the Hales lived, so tomorrow he'd go over and talk to Derek to sort out this mess.
Fishing his keys out of his pocket, he started making his way to his blue jeep – as distinctive as the Camaro was – eager to go home for now and wallow in his misery for at least a little while. He figured he had earned that particular right with how shitty this day had turned out to be.
"Stiles!"
He halted and closed his eyes for a moment before slowly turning around, watching Theo hurry towards him. "What?" he asked flatly, not caring at the moment whether he sounded rude or not.
"I was wondering – would you want to grab a coffee with me tomorrow?" Theo asked, a tad breathless as he came to a stop in front of the Omega. "So that we can start getting to know each other better."
Stiles hesitated, shuffling with his feet. There wouldn't be any classes for a week to give the new couples some time together – and it being May, exams would start soon anyway – so he didn't really have an excuse to refuse. He guessed he could fib and tell Theo he needed to study, but he couldn't keep pushing it off. Perhaps it was like ripping off a band-aid: better to do it as quickly as possible.
Checking a sigh, he answered, "Yeah sure. When and where?"
"Two o'clock?" Theo suggested. "I'll drive you if that's okay with you."
"Sure," Stiles muttered, figuring it would save him on gas at least. "I'll see you tomorrow then." And stepped into his car before Theo could say anything else.
He resolutely refused to look at the Alpha when he drove off, passing several new couples who looked decidedly happier than he felt like.
Clenching his hands around the steering wheel, he repeated what was quickly becoming a mantra: Just six months.
He could do this.
When he arrived home, the house was dark and silent; his dad still patrolling the area of the Run. He'd be home in a couple of hours when the last stragglers had been registered and gone home.
For one brief moment Stiles could have been one of those stragglers while dad would have shaken his head in exasperation at seeing his son leave the woods as one of the last. He would have been happy for Stiles, though.
Shaking his head, he kicked off his shoes, thump, thump against the wall, and dropped his keys in the ceramic bowl his mum had thought was cute while both men were of the firm opinion it was the ugliest thing they had ever had the misfortune to encounter. They never thought of throwing it out, though.
On bare feet he went into the kitchen to grab something to drink. His phone was charging on the counter and he picked it up, pulling the plug out of it, before retrieving the bottle of milk from the fridge. As he drank directly from the bottle – dad wasn't here to scold him about it anyway – he pressed on the home button and watched the screen light up. There was one new message waiting for him and he opened it, already knowing who had sent it before looking at the name.
Scott: 'Don't know when you're going to read this, but let me know how it went! I'm cheering for you, buddy!'
The timestamp indicated that his best friend had sent the encouraging message at ten to ten – Stiles had already been waiting on the field then. Every participant had been forced to leave their phone behind in order to keep the playing field fair. Scott knew this and while Stiles' Run definitely hadn't turned out like he had wanted it to, he appreciated Scott's support nonetheless.
He just couldn't bring himself to reply to him yet. He wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with Scott's inevitable shock and the barrage of questions which would no doubt be unleashed. Stiles himself was still trying to come to terms with what had happened – he wasn't ready to deal with Scott's reaction.
Dropping his phone back onto the counter, he wiped his hand across his mouth and put the milk back into the fridge. Rising up again he glanced around the kitchen, wondering what he should do now. He could go upstairs, maybe take a shower or take a nap after the restless sleep he had had last night, but …
He was feeling too jittery to do any of those things. His thoughts were racing around, whirling like a hurricane and nervous energy thrummed through his veins, refusing to let him settle down and relax. His stomach was doing weird flips and he became hyper aware of the silence hanging heavily in the house.
Abruptly he stripped off his clothes, dropping them carelessly onto the floor in a crumpled pile, and walked to the door leading to the garden. He couldn't stay in the house, not when it was this dark and silent, without anything or anybody to distract him. He needed to move, to run freely and wildly, leave all this worries behind for now.
Slipping out of the door, he took care to close it before turning around to face the garden. Their garden went over into a small forest behind it; the line of thick, tall trees marking the end of their property.
Stretching out his limbs, he shook them loose and raised his head for a moment, studying the position of the sun. It was starting to set slowly, the intensity of its rays diminishing gradually, but he still had a few hours left before it would turn completely dark. Not that he was planning on staying away for hours.
He took the three steps down, almost stumbling over the last one. Feeling the grass between his toes, each individual blade tickling his skin, he closed his eyes and concentrated, allowing the change to take over. It had taken him a couple of years of practicing over and over again, growing frustrated with himself whenever he only managed to reach his demi form, but now the change rippled through him easily, contorting his muscles, organs and bones into the right shape smoothly.
A couple of seconds later, the naked man had disappeared, leaving a fox in his place with a shiny, deep read coat and a bushy tail with a white tip, looking like a large, animated paint brush. Black eyes opened and took in his surroundings; everything always looked so different whenever he assumed his form, mostly due to the sudden height difference. His tail swishing back and forth, he spent some time snuffling around the garden, picking up faint traces of mice, some birds and even a rabbit, which had all visited the garden at least once today.
The sound of a low pitched howl somewhere in the distance had him raising his head abruptly and for a moment he stood still, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves; the mice scurrying around underneath the bushes; the birds chirping and tweeting and arguing high up in the trees; some cars passing by and the baby granddaughter of Mrs. Wilson crying four houses down the street.
Energy thrummed in his veins and with a sudden burst of speed he took off, rushing into the small forest as fast as his paws allowed him to. He jumped gracefully over fall tree trunks, sped by a grey tabby cat who hissed at him and sprang away, startled birds when he ran straight at them, yapping and growling.
The forest was alive around him, welcoming him home with its many arms, encouraging him to go faster, further, higher. The scents lingering around in this place were as familiar to him as the scents in his home and he leapt over a berry bush; sharp, small teeth revealing themselves through a large grin as the feeling of exhilaration took over.
How many times hadn't he seen his mum run around in the forest, playing with him in her fox form? She had been incredibly beautiful as a fox; her red coat shimmery and full, her dark eyes alight with mischief when she mock fought with dad in his wolf form. She had seemed larger than life itself, appearing more like an ancient spirit of the forest than a common animal.
She had called the forest her home and had made sure her son felt welcome in it.
Ever since finding out he was a fox like his mum and not a wolf like his dad, he had dreamt of the day he would be able to run next to her in his full form; the both of them racing through the woods, side to side.
She had died before he had achieved his first transformation.
She hadn't lived long enough to see his full form, but even so, when he raced through these woods; when he inhaled the clean air, the scents dancing on it; when his paws touched the very same earth hers had touched once upon a time … He felt close to her, connected, as if her spirit had never truly left.
Here in this place, in this moment, he felt safe, protected, like nothing bad could happen to him as long as he was here. The woods took care of him, kept the bad thoughts away and for just this moment he didn't have to think of what he had left behind at the house.
He didn't think about Theo and how he would get through the upcoming six months. He didn't contemplate how his dad and Scott would react. He didn't worry about Derek's reaction and whether or not the man would be willing to wait for him.
Here all that mattered was the soft ground giving away underneath his paws, the tree branches creaking and leaves rustling, the peaceful gurgling noise of the creek nearby and the sunlight warming his coat.
For just this moment he felt free.
The sun was low against the horizon, painting the sky with streaks of red, orange and purple, when Stiles dragged his paws back to the house. It had been nice to spend time in the woods again, remembering as he had run through it why his mum had loved that place so much. His mind had been blissfully empty for those hours with his only concern being whether he could catch a fish without tumbling into the water himself.
But now the sun was setting and he had heard dad's car arriving a while ago and he knew he couldn't stay in the woods forever – no matter how tempting that idea was.
So with great reluctance, he slinked out of the cover of the trees and scurried to the house. The backdoor opened and he skidded inside, running past dad. After so much time spent between bushes and trees, he knew he had got dirty and a shower sounded great at the moment.
Dad didn't stop him when he raced upstairs still in his fox form, but instead started rummaging in the kitchen. On the landing Stiles stood still and concentrated again, shaking off his full form as easily as he had slipped into it. He took a few seconds to stretch his limbs and shake out his hands and legs – spending so much time in his full form always left him a bit disorientated once he turned back; his mind and body disconnecting for just a short moment before they realigned again.
Naked he strode into the bathroom, stepping into the shower before the water could properly warm up. Staring blankly at the wall in front of him allowed him to not start thinking just yet and on automatic pilot he washed himself, briskly but efficiently.
Once he figured he was clean enough, he shut off the shower and stepped out of it, nearly tripping over the edge and smashing his head onto the edge of the sink. Grimacing – why he never could be as graceful as a human as he was in his full form was a mystery to him – he snatched a towel out of the small closet and dried himself off quickly. After dropping the towel into the plastic basket – they'd have to do laundry soon, judging by the pile accumulated in it – he went into his room and changed into a faded grey shirt that hung loosely around his frame and shorts before making his way downstairs again.
Dad was waiting for him in the kitchen with two mugs of hot chocolate waiting on the table. At Stiles' raised eyebrow, dad shrugged and said, "I figured this was a day where you could use that."
"Thanks," Stiles smiled faintly, plopping down on the chair and dragging the mug towards him.
"How did it go?" Dad asked carefully. "Considering you went into the woods, is it safe to say that – it didn't go as you wanted?"
Stiles snorted at that and staring down into the steaming liquid, he mumbled, "Derek caught me."
"Oh." A pause. "I thought that was what you wanted?"
"It was," Stiles confirmed and looked up, but kept his eyes fixated on dad's collar. There was a smudge of red sauce there, clearly wiped away hastily and he wondered whether dad had cheated on his diet again and had eaten a hamburger before coming home. Any other day and he'd scold the older man for that, but now he couldn't bring himself to do that.
"But?"
"Derek caught me and then an Alpha appeared. Did you know Derek's a Beta?"
"Oh, Stiles," Dad sighed and when the younger man glanced at him, he saw him rubbing his face. "I'm sorry to hear that, kid. I know you wanted Derek to catch you."
"So you knew he's a Beta," Stiles muttered and slumped into his chair, bitterness rearing its ugly head once more. Had he been the only one who had been too stupid to catch Derek's real scent?
"I did, yeah. You thought he was an Alpha?"
"He smells like an Alpha."
"Well, I suppose he does. He hangs out with his sisters a lot," Dad murmured thoughtfully. When he looked at his son next, his eyes were full of apprehension and worry lurked deep within them. "Who's the Alpha?"
"Theo Raeken."
"Ah."
Silence fell between them as they sipped from their chocolate milk. Three cars had passed their house and the German Shepherd of their neighbours had barked to welcome his owners home before dad broke the silence again.
"What are you going to do now?"
Stiles rolled his shoulders and grimaced. "Get through these six months with Theo, I suppose. It's not like I have a choice." He scowled; his fingers tightening around the mug.
"And afterwards?"
Nibbling on his lower lip, he rubbed over his forehead. "Break it off with Theo and … hope that Derek will still want me by then," he replied in a low voice; a part of him not daring to hope for that.
Six months was quite a while – could he really expect Derek to wait for him that long? That wouldn't be really fair to him, right?
Dad's hand closing around his left one startled him and he looked up in surprise, catching dad's eyes. "Derek's not the type to change his mind so quickly," he reminded his son. "He'll wait for you, I'm sure."
"Six months is quite a while, dad," Stiles retorted, frowning even as he gripped dad's hand. "It wouldn't be fair to him to expect him to wait for that long."
"Six months is nothing," Dad scoffed, shaking his head. "Don't decide in his place, kid. I'm sure that if you talk to him, you'll find out he's more than willing to wait."
"Maybe," Stiles mumbled, still not entirely convinced. God, it'd be amazing if Derek was willing to wait for him, though …
"He will," Dad said confidently, retracting his hand. He took another sip before casually adding, "He didn't take off his eyes from you even once all that time you stood waiting there for the Run to begin. I'd say that counts for something."
Ducking his head, Stiles could feel his cheeks turning red and against his will, a smile spread out across his face.
Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out okay after all. After all, what were six months?
AN2: I hope this wasn't too bad! The chapter gave me a bit of trouble at times, but I hope it doesn't show ^^;
Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
See you all in the next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
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